Meath resident jailed for possession of child sexual abuse material and exploitation of 13 year old girl

A 50 year man residing in Meath has been sentenced to three years in prison after being found in possession of child porn twice within two years and exploiting a 13 year old girl.

The accused was in Trim Circuit Court on 29th January charged with possession of child sexual abuse material, known in law as child pornography, exploitation of a minor.

Sergeant Anthony Brady told the court in January 2021 gardaí were notified by National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) of an account on the social media app Kik. The account was created using an email linked to the IP address of the accused.

A search warrant was executed on 23rd January 2021 at the home of the accused where a phone and laptop were seized. Four videos and two images were found that were categorised as child sexually explicit material. He was arrested and charged in December 2024 on this matter.

The accused made a statement to gardai following this and the court heard he admitted to using the email address, calling the images “sick”. He explained on the night how he shared both adult and child porn and said he didn’t know why he looked at it.

Sergeant Tracy Gosling told the court in the Summer of 2022 gardaí were alerted by Interpol that on the French social media app Yubo a user was engaging with girls aged 13 to 17 years old. The accused was found to be the owner of the account and was attempting to convince the girls to communicate with him on snapchat.

A warrant was executed on his home on 19th June 2022 and a phone was seized. The accused made a voluntary statement during the search where he admitted to owning the account but he said it was blocked and wasn’t used for more than a year.

The court heard 70 videos of child sexual abuse material was found on the phone, seven of which involved a 13 year old girl. Sgt Tracy told the court one such video showed the accused and the girl both watching and performing sexual acts. These videos were recorded between 17th and 19th July 2021, six months after the first search warrant was executed on his home.

During interviews with Gardaí he gave names for half a dozen usernames and expressed horror and disgust for what he did. he admitted to the offences on all matter and was charged on 17th September 2024 before pleading guilty.

Judge John Martin said the most upsetting feature was after the search in January 2021 “that summer you had another phone and you were back at it again”. Judge Martin said instead of it being a wake up call “you took it up a notch”.

“That is without doubt a disturbing feature of this case,” Judge Martin said.

Defending Barrister Carl Hanahoe SC told the court the accused has a personal history of child sexual abuse and used porn as a coping mechanism throughout his adult life. This included more extreme and disturbing variants of porn.

Barrister SC Hanahoe told the court he has been using professional help for his addiction since 2021 and has consistently engaged with a psychotherapist to try understand his mental health difficulties. The court heard A wellbeing report on the accused said he refers to himself as disturbed and psychologically vulnerable with low self esteem. SC Hanahoe told the court he would welcome being put in treatment programs during his time in custody.

The court heard he has had two relationships with two kids but these charges have left him alienated from friends and family and only has supervised access to his six year old son.

Judge Martin said it is disturbing how he is a parent himself who is doing such offences and that he knew what he was doing was wrong. He also accepted that psychologists say those who have been victims of sexual abuse as a child are likely to repeat this exploitation.

Judge Martin imposed a three year prison sentence with an additional six months suspended on condition he avails of all facilities and rehab services offered to him during his time in prison and that he avails of probation services for 12 months following his release. He is also to be put on the sex offender registry indefinitely.